Holiday Face–Off

The Holiday Face–Off is a mid-season college ice hockey tournament with the first iteration played in late December 2021. Clarkson is the defending champion after beating Wisconsin 3-1 in the 2022 championship game. The 2023 Kwik Trip Holiday Face–Off will feature Wisconsin, Minnesota Duluth, Northeastern and Air Force on December 28 and 29 at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee.[1]

Holiday Face–Off
Tournament information
SportCollege ice hockey
LocationMilwaukee, Wisconsin
Number of
tournaments
2
FormatSingle-elimination
VenueFiserv Forum
Teams4

History

The Holiday Face–Off was brought about by the Gazelle Group, a marketing firm based in Princeton, New Jersey. The group sought to rekindle a mid-western holiday tournament that had previously been organized by the University of Wisconsin–Madison as the Badger Showdown. No winter tournament had been held in the region since the Showdown was discontinued in 2009.[2]

The tournament was first supposed to be held on December 28–29, 2020. However, it was postponed to 2021 due to the COVID-19 outbreak. The original teams meant to play were the Wisconsin Badgers, Clarkson Golden Knights, UConn Huskies, and Arizona State Sun Devils.

On June 15, 2021, it was announced that the inaugural Holiday Face–Off tournament would be played on December 28–29, 2021 between the Wisconsin Badgers, Providence Friars, Bowling Green Falcons, and Yale Bulldogs.[1] The Badgers and Friars took the championship game into overtime and ended with a final score of 2-2. The Badgers would ultimately win the inaugural Holiday Face–Off championship on a shootout goal by freshman forward, Zach Urdahl.

Yearly Results
YearChampionRunner-upThird placeFourth placeRef
2021 Wisconsin Providence Bowling Green Yale
2022 Clarkson Wisconsin Massachusetts Lake Superior State

Team records
Team# of times participatedTitlesConference
Wisconsin21Big Ten
Clarkson11ECAC
Providence10Hockey East
Massachusetts10Hockey East
Bowling Green10CCHA
Lake Superior State10CCHA
Yale10ECAC

References
  1. "INAUGURAL HOLIDAY FACE-OFF COLLEGE HOCKEY TOURNAMENT FEATURING WISCONSIN, PROVIDENCE, BOWLING GREEN, AND YALE TO BE HELD AT FISERV FORUM IN DECEMBER". Holiday Face–Off. June 15, 2021. Retrieved August 17, 2021.
  2. "Badger Showdown". College Hockey Historical Archive. Retrieved 2017-09-04.
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